Trevor Gretzky, Cubs prospect and 20-year-old son of Wayne Gretzky playing for the Class-A Boise in Northwest League

Trevor Gretzky, left, of the Class-A Boise Hawks, son of Wayne Gretzky, was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the seventh round in 2011.

By:Jim MorrisSPECIAL TO THE STAR, Published on Mon Jul 15 2013

VANCOUVER—It was his affection for the game, not a desire to distance himself from his famous father, that made Trevor Gretzky choose baseball over hockey.

The 20-year-old son of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky was in Vancouver over the weekend playing for the Class-A Boise Hawks against the local Canadians. It’s one of the first steps on the long climb up baseball’s ladder through the minor leagues.

While proud of his father, Gretzky also wants to make his own name in sports. Circumstances resulted in him lacing on cleats instead of skates.

“I feel like if I had grown up in Canada, I definitely would have played hockey,” Gretzky said prior to a game at picturesque Nat Bailey Stadium. “It’s just all my buddies were playing baseball. It’s kind of the game I gravitated to.”

Wearing the Gretzky name on any uniform can be a heavy load, but being a hockey player would add extra weight. Comparisons between father and son would be inevitable, but Gretzky said that never influenced the path he decided to follow.

“You can’t think about that,” he said. “I play baseball because I love the game, not because I’m trying to do my own thing.

“I try not to think about his shadow or anything like that because it’s not really relevant to me. Ever since I saw my first game in Yankees Stadium I knew I wanted to play professionally. You can’t explain it. You just go out and play the game.”

Gretzky wears No. 9, a nod to his father’s famous No. 99. Against the Canadians he played left field and batted eighth. In the first inning Thursday he misplayed a fly ball that landed behind him but compensated by later making a pretty running catch.

The large crowd gave him loud applause for his first at-bat. He responded with a double to the warning track that drove in a run.

Gretzky showed enough potential for the Chicago Cubs to select him in the seventh round of the 2011 major league draft. He missed his first year due to arm surgery but batted .304 in 35 games last year in the Arizona Rookie League.

Playing in the Northwest League this season, Gretzky has appeared in just 13 of Boise’s first 30 games and is hitting .261.

Personable and soft spoken, Gretzky carries just 190 pounds on a six-foot-four frame. He admits he needs to get “bigger, stronger and faster.

“I have a long ways to go,” he said. “I’m just working hard day by day. I’m coming in here, grinding like all the other guys on my team.

“Hopefully, I will be in the big leagues one day. For now I have to focus on doing the things I can control and playing the game I am playing.”

Hawks manager Gary Van Tol smiled when asked if Gretzky has the skill to play in the major leagues.

“He has enough potential to be here,” said Van Tol. “For all these kids, the older they get, the higher level they get to, the less the odds are.

“There are going to be five guys off this team that makes it to the big leagues. Nobody knows who those five guys are going to be.”

Van Tol said Gretzky has to learn how to hit.

“He doesn’t need to hit like a big-league left fielder right now. He needs to learn how to hit. He needs to learn how to control his barrel and put consistent at-bats together, use the whole field, learn how to hit first and the power will come. It’s a process.

“He can hit it out of the ballpark. For me, it’s getting him to become an all-round hitter right now.”

Van Tol was born in Pincher Creek, Alta., and played junior hockey growing up while Gretzky’s father was winning Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers.

“I don’t feel any pressure at all,” he said about managing a Hockey Hall of Famer’s son. “Whether guys are first-round picks or their dads might be famous, we treat everyone like normal human beings.”

Growing up in Los Angeles, where his father played for the Kings, helped shield Gretzky from some of the spotlight he might have experienced in Canada. He’s also used to rubbing shoulders with celebrities.

Gretzky played on the same football team with Nicholas Montana, the son of NFL legend Joe Montana, and Trey Smith, son of actor Will Smith.

His father also was able to blend into the crowd, something hard to do in Canada.

“Every time I come up (to Canada) with my dad, you can tell they love him up here,” said Gretzky. “He kind of gets bothered a lot.

“Growing up in the suburbs of L.A., no one really bothered him and he could be just like all the other dads.”

Gretzky said his father has offered him some simple advice.

“Just work hard,” Gretzky said. “You might not have all the talent in the world, but if you work hard and play the game hard, good things will happen.

“That’s probably the biggest thing he preached to me ever since I was little kid.”

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